45th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2014) 1568.pdf

EXTRATERRESTRIAL VIRTUAL FIELD EXPERIENCE. C. Million1, R. Sullivan2, M. St. Clair1, A. Hayes2,3, NASA RPIF Network Node Directors and Managers, 1Million Concepts ( chase@mill ionconcepts.com ), 2Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University. 3Dept. of Astronomy, Cornell University.

Introduction: To promote public access and use of example, a Mössbauer observation could reveal planetary spacecraft data, the Spacecraft Planetary information about iron-rich minerals at the given Imaging Facility (SPIF) at Cornell University, a location, and require 40% of a planning day’s member of NASA’s Regional Planetary Imaging resources. The user has the option to enqueue the Facility Network (RPIFN) [1], has begun to participate observation for “uplink” to the rover. When the rover in the Virtual Field Experience (VFE) program of the “plan” or “queue” is full or the student-players are Paleontological Research Institute (PRI) [2]. The VFE ready, they can execute their final plan by choosing to program uses remote sensing data (e.g., images) of real uplink it to the rover, along with providing a scientific terrestrial locations of geologic interest to create virtual justification for the selected observations (similar to environments that can be explored by teacher-led actual rover planning strategies). The counter groups of students in an inquiry-based manner. In kind, advances, and results of the observations are SPIF has developed a prototype game-like classroom immediately returned in the form of a “Mission activity called the Extraterrestrial Virtual Field Manager Report” that contains data from requested Experience (EVFE) that places students in the first observations (in the form of images or graphs), person role of the mission operations team for the scientific interpretations of those data, and Rover after its landing at Eagle crater on recommendations for future observations. This cycle [3]. Students are tasked to discover the source of repeats until all possible observations have been made hematite signatures detected from orbit by or the mission ends at 90 sols. Users can download the commanding the rover to move and make complete set of Mission Manager Reports as both a measurements. The students’ ability to command reference and log of activities. movements and measurements are subject to limitations on consumable resources as an abstracted representation of the operational constraints faced by actual mission teams. The EVFE has the potential to convey key concepts in core scientific sub-topics as well as generalized scientific and systems thinking. We anticipate that the EVFE will be used as an enrichment activity in junior high to high school level science classrooms or after school programs. The EVFE project is part of a new series of programs sponsored by the NASA RPIFN [1] to utilize digital resources to Figure 1. An example of target selection with disseminate and describe the data returned by NASA’s available footprints in the main window, available planetary exploration missions to the general public instruments along the left, queue along the bottom, and [3]. navigation to the right. Overview: Student-players are presented with a Design: The prototype EVFE user interface and graphical interface that allows them to browse a behavior was designed to mimic, but in a greatly panoramic image of a site as well as front and rear simplified way, the tools and procedures used by actual images. Footprints (quadrilateral regions), mission scientists requesting observations by robotic which denote areas of potential scientific interest are spacecraft. In this case, the interface is an abstracted overlaid on these data. The footprints have hover-over representation of the “maestro” toolkit [4] used by the text that describes why the location may be of team and, whereas real scientific interest. Selecting a footprint can make one mission scientists must balance a number of limited or more scientific instruments available in the spacecraft resources including power, data capacity, instrument toolbar, indicating which kind of and bandwidth, all spacecraft consumables within the observations can be made. Selecting an instrument EVFE are abstracted as simply “time.” That is, each from the toolbar brings up a dialog that explains to the activity takes a specific amount of time to perform and student-player what information potentially could be must be optimized against the limited amount of time gained by using the specific instrument, and how much time would be consumed by the measurement. For 45th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2014) 1568.pdf

per day for activities and the limited number of days in Future Work: The appropriate amount or level of the expected mission lifetime. content for the target audience and environment remains an open challenge. It is likely that multiple While all images and graphics within the activity modules will need to be developed--even for the same are derived exclusively from real mission data, not all scenario--which can fit into different educational mission data are available within the activity. Rather, a environments. Play-testing in junior high and high specific module or scenario contains a curated subset school classrooms, expected to take place starting in of the available data for that location. Descriptions and Spring of 2014, should prove extremely helpful in interpretations of the data are written by an actual refining these elements. Full deployment of the module mission scientist and closely track the thought to classrooms, including detailed teacher guides and processes of the actual mission science teams. The data mapping of modules and content to specific Common and descriptions included within each module form a Core [5] and Next Generation Science Standards [6], cohesive whole with a core narrative thread meant to may begin as early as late summer of 2014. We expect convey specific key pieces of information and general to generate new EVFE modules at a rate of at least one concepts, not unlike a digital museum installation. per year with data from a variety of missions. RPIF Network: The NASA Regional Planetary Imaging Facilities (RPIFs) are a network of 9 domestic and 7 international planetary image libraries. These facilities, which are open to the public, maintain photographic and digital data as well as mission documentation and cartographic data. Each facility's holdings contain images and maps of planets and their satellites taken by solar system exploration spacecraft. By placing users in a reconstructed first person narrative of discovery, the EVFE addresses the long Figure 2. An example of the data review panel and term vision of the RPIF Network to serve as a resource “mission manager report” with activity justification that provides the complete story of space exploration and scientific analysis. through archived data products, historical The prototype software runs in a browser documentation, and outreach materials [7]. environment from a development web server, but the graphical interface and its modes of interaction were Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the developed with the intention of the software eventually Regional Planetary Imaging Facilties Network for being deployable to mobile and tablet platforms as sponsoring this project and NASA for providing well as a desktop environment. support through grant NNX13AC79G. In addition to the front-end module, we have designed an underlying content format--an XML References: [1] Hagerty, J. (2013) RPIF 5-year plan database with a carefully defined structure--to be USGS Tech. Report. [2] Auer, S.L. et al. (2009) Geo. extensible to a number of manned and unmanned Soc. of Am. Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 41, No. 7, p. planetary surface mission data sets. In the expectation 385 [3] Squyres, S. W. et al. (2004) Science, 306.5702: of developing future modules for other NASA 1698-1703. [4] Fox, Jason M. et al. (2006) JPL, missions, we have also developed a prototype content NASA. [5] Council of Chief State School Officers. creation tool called SiteManager which assists a user in (2010) Nat. Gov. Ass. Center for Best Practices. [6] the creation of correctly formatted XML modules. NGSS Lead States. (2013) Achieve, Inc. [7] Hagerty, J. J. (2012) LPSC Abstracts. Vol. 43.